World Championship Qualifiers 2011: The Final Day

Better late than never, click below for my final report from the 2011 World Championship qualifiers on a day that Matthew Stevens and Dave Harold both snuck through at the last while Andrew Pagett and Jimmy Robertson caused shock upsets…

Anticipating a late night I took it upon myself to have a short lie-in and eventually  got to the EISS an hour into the play at 11am. Usually by this point few matches are into the third frame but already Steve Davis found himself 3-0 down against Stephen Lee and behind again in the next. Knowing the interest that there would be in this match I headed up the stairs and took a…space, to see how he was getting on.

With Lee on a break of 40 he decided to move the remaining reds from the black but did not finish ideal, electing to play safe. During the few frames I watched of the match this seemed to be something of a theme, Lee particularly keen not to leave Steve in with an early chance, as the less experienced Jack Lisowski did the other day. Eventually a black-shirted Davis got to the table with a long red and looked like clearing in two visits, particularly when he cannoned the difficult last red from the side-cushion into a pottable position. Unfortunately for Steve however he then missed it with the rest and with the colours on their spots, Lee cleared up for 4-0 at the break.

The fifth frame proved to be similar, Lee winning the safety battle before doing enough to take the frame with a couple of smaller visits. While I had been here to see Davis recover a five frame deficit here a couple of years ago against Lee Spick, I did not see that happening this time around and shuffled over to catch a bit of the matches involving Ken Doherty and Andrew Higginson on the far side.

Without pulling up any trees, Ken eventually did enough to take a 6-3 lead into the evening session, the last frame of the session looking to be particularly important as the former world champion took advantage of a poor run of the ball for Robertson. Higginson meanwhile made a nice break of 69 on his way to a 5-3 lead against Welshman Andrew Pagett but as he has done all week, Andrew fought back to close to just one behind at the end of the session, winning a crucial safety battle on the final green.

Following that I caught the last two frames of the match between Stuart Bingham and Alan McManus, Stuart taking both from behind to secure an 8-1 lead going into the final session. By this stage so had Stephen Lee, though at least Davis had taken one frame, earning the biggest cheer of the session in doing so. The less said about the match between Barry Hawkins and Anthony Hamilton the better however as they continued on an outer table at barely 4-3.

Taking up a position for the afternoon session which would enable me to watch three of the four matches in progress, the first to catch the eye was that between Judd Trump and David Gilbert which resumed at 6-3. Predictably this was not to prove a tactical scrap and Judd wasted little time in taking four of the days five frames to secure a 10-4 victory. Having been away from the Crucible since 2007 Judd is long overdue a second appearance there and so I am pleased to see him qualify. For Gilbert however relegation from the tour beckons, subject to whether he gives the Q School a go or not.

The second match to finish was that between Ryan Day and Chinese youngster Liu Chuang, a winner three times already this week against David Gray, Jimmy White and Tom Ford. Resuming with a 6-3 lead, Ryan soon extended this to 8-4 and looked good to progress without too much trouble.

Credit Liu however who importantly took the next frame to keep himself just about in touch heading to the interval, before taking the next two to close to just one behind at 8-7. By this stage Ryan was understandably beginning to look increasingly edgy and unthinkably to me at least, like he might be in danger.

The 16th frame was to prove a tense affair, both missing balls and even more obviously, struggling to maintain position. Though his body language was just starting to deteriorate to me, Ryan eventually made yellow and green to leave Liu needing snookers, later adding the brown to move 9-7 clear. Understandably relieved, Ryan instantly looked much better in the next frame and despite a miss on 65 with 67 on the table, soon got over the line to book his place at the Crucible and all but secure his place in the top 32. Liu Chuang though can be pleased with his run which showed that once again he is a threat in the longer format matches.

The main event of the session for me though was the match between Matthew Stevens and Fergal O’Brien and I was not to be disappointed as it went all the way to the final black.

Resuming with a 5-4 lead, Matthew started well and thanks largely to an opening 55 moved two frames clear for the fourth time in the match. Could he finally break clear of Fergal and move three ahead in the next? No was to be the answer as while Matt got in first with 32, Fergal stepped up to clear with an excellent 100 to cut the gap to one frame once again.

Stevens then played a good 12th frame to lead 7-5 before an incredibly tense last frame before the interval which from the start almost looked to be played as a decider, symbolised by an early re-rack. Eventually though it was Fergal who took it to keep himself in touch once again.

Having shared the next two to move the scoreline on to 8-7, by far the most important frame of the match was to be frame 16. For all the world it looked like Stevens would move two clear again at 9-7 for the first time in the match before a miss on 65 with 67 gave Fergal an opportunity to get back into it. With the black needed and a couple of reds in baulk however, a clearance always looked unlikely and once down to it, chose to play an excellent snooker rather than take any unnecessary risks. This soon proved to be the correct decision as not only did Stevens miss but he also left a free ball and with the colours on their spots 8-8 was inevitable.

Level for the first time since 2-2, Fergal went favourite for me, particularly given the circumstances of the previous frame and as Stevens missed a black on 38, the Irishman produced an excellent clearance to lead for the first time. What did Stevens have left?

Despite having lost the last three frames, Matt’s body language remained good, he continued to move quickly around the table and duly delivered a superb total clearance of 129 total clearance to force a decider.

Following an excellent safety exchange, it was Fergal who eventually won it although with many of the reds awkward I did not fancy him to make more than 45 as I noted on Twitter at the time. Though he eventually finished on 42, he was soon to get back in with an outrageous fluke, doubling a red into the left corner pocket from the bottom cushion. Freeing reds at the same time, it looked like the match would end in cruel circumstances for Stevens but there was to be a reprieve as with the lead up to 58 points with just 59 on, O’Brien could only play it safe.

With the black tight against another red, Stevens quickly set about freeing it to aid a potential clearance but missed with his first attempt, leaving Fergal with a long red on to secure victory. As it turned out though he was to miss it comfortably and Stevens was to be more successful with his next attempt, putting it over a corner.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8FcF7ib8x8]

Soon Fergal was to miss again and leave Matt a cut to the right-corner which he duly took, just leaving himself on the black having nearly snookered himself behind the brown. A fabulous shot to disturb a cluster of two reds followed and with the clearance on, Fergal’s saviour looked to be the pink which he had inadvertently put safe earlier in the frame.

As it was to prove, Stevens would play a brilliant shot to move the pink from the cushion from the final brown only to then overhit it and find himself not on the black. As you can see on the video above, despite his disappointment Matt managed to play a good safety on the black to give Fergal a real headache. Despite three minutes of thinking time O’Brien could not come up with a good safety and Stevens pulled out an excellent long pot to secure his return to the Crucible. Celebrating like I am sure he has never celebrated a win before, Stevens played very well and while I wanted him to win, I was especially pleased that he had not lost out because of that fluke for Fergal, never a good way to lose a match, particularly of this magnitude.

I did though have sympathy for Fergal who having lost probably the closest 10-5 match you could ever wish to see last year in the opening round at the Crucible against eventual champion Neil Robertson, played very well in defeat.

Moving on to the evening session, having had a short break, Steve Davis had already fallen 9-1 behind but an excellent clearance of 54 to the final pink did at least keep the match going for a frame longer as he capitalised on a missed red to the right-centre from Lee. The result though was inevitable and Stephen soon got over the line in frame 12, securing the win to leave Davis missing the Crucible for the first time since 2002.

Elsewhere, at this time the place to be was the far left as the matches involving Ken Doherty and Jimmy Robertson as well as Andrew Pagett and Andrew Higginson both progressed to 6-6. While Jimmy’s fightback had surprised me, I was not all that shocked to see Pagett staying with Higginson, particularly having watched his brilliant performance against Nigel Bond a couple of days previously.

Higginson meanwhile is undoubtedly a very good player, but perhaps there is a reason why he has not reached the Crucible on more occasions than he has done in the past and unfortunately for him he had no answer to his Welsh opponent, Pagett eventually running out a 10-6 winner. With watching manager Paul Mount and other supporters understandably delighted, Pagett closed out with some Mark Williams style shots as you can see from the video and will be an interesting one to watch in front of the TV cameras.

Meanwhile Jimmy Robertson was soon to join him, sensationally knocking out former world champion Ken Doherty by the same scoreline to also book his place in the last 32 for the first time. A fairytale story for another On Q Promotions player, it has been an excellent week during which his most impressive performance for me was actually his first, his 10-9 win against the in-form Xiao Guodong.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHhxDwEp82Q]

So what was left? Stuart Bingham had already completed an excellent win against Alan McManus while Barry Hawkins eventually secured a hard-fought win against an increasingly frustrated Anthony Hamilton. The key moment in that match proved to be the last before the interval, a marathon 72 minute affair which Barry won on the black having needed a snooker. Highlighted by an excellent brown, this was enough to put him 8-5 clear and he never really looked back from there.

Finally we had the match between Dave Harold and Gerard Greene, a throwback to 2010 when again Gerard was the last man standing, on that occasion against Rory McLeod when he was to emerge a 10-9 winner. Trailing 8-6 and 9-7, Gerard looked to be all at sea, waiting for Dave to leave to playing arena before giving the floor an almighty kick. That said, under the circumstances he responded brilliantly with runs of 75 and 73 to force a decider.

First blood in the final frame went to Gerard as an initial red followed by a snooker behind the yellow earned him an early 21 point lead. Eventually however the match was to be decided in part by a fluke as Harold hit what I’m sure was an accidental cross-double from just under the left-centre into the opposite corner pocket. From here Gerard was not to get another shot and Dave booked a spot at the Crucible for the first time since 2008.

All in all then it was an excellent day to finish off a thoroughly enjoyable week, both in terms of the on-table action and my experiences on a personal level, meeting lots of great people and wearing my thumbs out typing what I believe was near enough 3,000 tweets!

I shall post again with my top five moments later in the week.